Roll of Honour1914-1918

Saturday 10th November 2018

A tribute to the people of Marlborough and their part in the Great War.

Hosted by

Marlborough Town Council

with proceeds going to

The Royal British Legion

The Great WarThe Great War as it was known in the period before the 2nd World War broke out in August 1914.

It moves the young and the not so young beyond their understanding. It was a war where generals accepted casualties in tens of thousands, but we know each casualty was a known and loved individual.

This is the story and tribute to the men (and women) who served and sacrificed their lives from one small town in Wiltshire.

No 3 Section, 302 Company, on the march.

Thornycroft 3-ton lorries, almost certainly part of 734 Company, pictured in Marlborough High Street during the latter part of 1916.

302 Company lorries parked in Marlborough. The road surface appears to be in a dreadful state.

The Names of the MenTown Mayor Cllr Lisa Farrell reads

the names from 1914PRIVATE CHARLES MARTIN1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in action. 21st September 1914.

LANCE CORPORAL WILLIAM LEWINGTON1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in action. 24th October 1914.

PRIVATE CHARLES MONTAGUE MORRISON1st/14th Battalion London Regiment (London Scottish). Killed in action 1st November 1914.

The London Scottish were the first territorial Battalion to see action with British Expeditionary Force. They were an exclusive unit, fully manned and armed, and suffered heavy losses in the first battle of Ypres.

PRIVATE OLIVER JAMES DOBSON2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. Died at home. 10th November 1914.

Oliver died at home soon after his Battalion returned from India.

PRIVATE ERNEST COOPER1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in action. 22nd November 1914.

BOY 1ST CLASS ARTHUR NORTHCOTTDied when his ship blew up in Sheerness Harbour on 26th November 1914. Aged 16.

Town Beadle Mike Tupman reads the the names from 1915

PRIVATE RICHARD THOMAS KNIGHT2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Died whilst on active duty. 2nd January 1915.

PRIVATE WILLIAM COOK1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 8th January 1915.

LANCE SERGEANT HERBERT POND1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Died of wounds. 12th March 1915.

PRIVATE ROBERT JOHN HOOPER2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Died of wounds at Boulougne. 6th April 1915. Aged 17.

COMMANDER THOMAS HECTOR MOLESWORTH MAURICEDied when his ship blew up in Sheerness Harbour on 27th May 1915.

PRIVATE CHARLES PIKE1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 16th June 1915.

PRIVATE HENRY CULLEY1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 22nd June 1915.

CAPTAIN JOHN GARRETT BUSSELL7th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment. Killed in Action. 28th June 1915.

Captain Bussell was an assistant Master at the College. He was shot by a sniper whilst inspecting the front line trenches.

GUNNER WILFRED WIGGINSRoyal Garrison Artillery. Killed in Action. 25th July 1915.

2ND LIEUTENANT THOMAS KEITH HEADLEY RAE2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade. Killed in Action. 30th July 1915.

Lieutenant Rae was an assistant Master at the College. He was killed in a liquid fire attack on his trench.

PRIVATE WILLIAM THOMAS BAILEY1st/4th Battalion Welsh Regiment. Killed in Action in Gallipoli. 11th August 1915.

William was the only Marlborough man killed at Gallipoli. He was killed on the same day and in the same location as the 5th Wilts massacre.

PRIVATE JOHN ALBERT DEVIS1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 24th September 1915.

PRIVATE FREDERICK JOHN SAWYER2nd/4th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 22nd November 1915 in the Mesopotamia Campaign.

PRIVATE STANLEY GORDON WOODMAN8th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Died at home of illness. 29nd November 1915.

PRIVATE EDRIC ALFRED BAKERRoyal Army Service Corps. Killed in Action. 30th November 1915.

PRIVATE WILLIAM HENRY BURDEN2nd/4th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 28th December 1915 in the Mesopotamia Campaign.

Deputy Mayor Cllr Mervyn Hall reads the names from 1916 before

the Battle of the SommePRIVATE ALFRED HATTON2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Died of wounds. 30th January 1916.

Alfred was the eldest of two brothers to be killed in 1916.

PRIVATE HENRY HUTCHINS2nd/4th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 4th April 1916 in the Mesopotamia Campaign.

PRIVATE HUGH JOHN MIDDLETON5th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Died of wounds. 4th April 1916 in the Mesopotamia Campaign.

Two Marlborough soldiers were killed on this day in the battle to break through the besieged town of Kut.

PRIVATE EDWIN WOODROFF5th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Died of wounds. 10th April 1916 in the Mesopotamia Campaign.

PRIVATE THOMAS HAWKINS26th Labour Company. Army Service Corps. Killed in Action. 19th April 1916.

PRIVATE WILLIAM HENRY TAYLOR24th Battalion (2nd Sportsman’s Battalion) Royal Fusiliers. Killed in action on 30th April 1916 when a mine exploded under the front line trench.

BOY 1ST CLASS WILFRED SIDNEY DOBSONHMS Queen Mary. Killed in action when the Queen Mary blew up at the Battle of Jutland on 31st May 1916.

Wilfred was among 1266 members of the crew to perish that day. Only 18 were rescued.

CORPORAL FRED FORD29th Battalion Canadian Infantry (British Columbia Regiment). Killed in action. 31st May 1916.

Fred enlisted in Vancouver. His mother lived at The Lodge, Bath Road, Marlborough.

LEADING STOKER ERNEST WALTER PONTINGHMS Tipperary. Killed in action when the Tipperary was sunk by gun fire at the Battle of Jutland on 31st May 1916.

Tipperary was a destroyer sunk by gunfire. Ernest was among 185 members of the crew to perish that day. He was the second Marlborough man to be killed at the Battle of Jutland (His death was recorded as 1st June).

PRIVATE LIONEL CROW1st Canadian Mounted Rifles. Killed in action. 2nd June 1916.

Lionel enlisted in Brandon, Manitoba in December 1914. He had previously been employed by his father, a leather manufacturer in Angel Yard. Lionel was killed in a local action know as the Battle of Mount Sorrel. Mount Sorrel was a highly prized elevated position in the Ypres Salient. Whilst the Canadians were preparing to improve their position they were hit by a massive artillery barrage, which killed 620 men in Lionel’s Battalion. Major General Malcolm Mercer the Divisional Commander was killed in the same barrage.

Colonel Simon Puxley Commanding Officer of 4 Military Intelligence Battalion reads the

names from 1916 from 1st July

CAPTAIN PERCIVAL BECKWITH WACE5th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. Died of wounds. 3rd July 1916 on the Somme.

Captain Wace was an assistant Master at the College. On the eve of the Somme Percival Wace wrote: “I shall not consider my life wasted if it has taught anyone to love Marlborough more.”

CAPTAIN FREEMAN ARCHIBALD HAYNES ATKEY9th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. 5th July 1916 on the Somme.

Captain Atkey was an assistant Master at the College. Captain Atkey was shot by a sniper observing the progress of his battalion attacking the German trenches.

PRIVATE CHARLES HUTCHINS1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 7th July 1916 on the Somme.

Charles’ brother was killed 3 months earlier in the Mesopotamia Campaign.

PRIVATE THOMAS HENRY DOBIE1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 11th July 1916 on the Somme.

Thomas had previously fought at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle where he was wounded in hand to hand fighting. He was struck on the head with a rifle butt and bayonetted in the leg.

PRIVATE REGINALD WILLIAM DOBSON1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 15th July 1916 on the Somme.

PRIVATE PHILIP ALAN GALE10th Battalion Gloucester Regiment. Killed in Action. 22nd July 1916 on the Somme.

LANCE SERGEANT EVAN ECKHARD MEYRICK1st Battalion Cambridgeshire Regiment. Died 30th July 1916.

Evan was what is delightfully known as a “gentleman ranker”. His father was a distinguished assistant Master at the College. The family lived at Thornhanger an imposing house overlooking the Common. Evan was educated at the College and gained a Classical scholarship to Trinity College Cambridge. With twelve other undergraduates he joined up with the local Territorial Battalion. Evan served as an ordinary soldier, turning down the opportunity to take a commission, which was easy at the early stages of the war. Evan was taken ill whilst serving in the trenches. He walked out of the lines to be confined in hospital at St Omer where he sadly died.

SERGEANT REGINALD TOM REDDROP1st/4th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 14th August 1916 on the Somme.

2ND LIEUTENANT WILLIAM ROBERT HILL MERRIMAN8th Battalion Rifle Brigade. Killed in Action. 15th August 1916 on the Somme.

PRIVATE ARTHUR JAMES MILSOM8th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 29th August 1916 on the Somme.

LANCE SERGEANT ERNEST AUGUSTUS HEAD17th Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps. Killed in Action. 3rd September 1916 on the Somme.

GUARDSMAN WILLIS ROBBINS1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. Killed in Action. 25th September 1916 on the Somme.

CORPORAL HARWARD HENRY BAVERSTOCK43rd Battalion Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment). Killed in Action. 1st October 1916 on the Somme.

GUNNER GERALD EDWARD ELLIS9th New Zealand Field Artillery. Killed in Action. 15th October 1916 on the Somme.

Gerald’s widowed mother was a servant living at the College.

PRIVATE FRANK HATTON2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Died of wounds. 18th October 1916.

Frank was the eldest of two brothers to be killed in 1916. The brothers enlisted together at Le Marchant barracks at Devizes. They were the only sons of Charles and Rebecca who lived in the London Road at the time.

LANCE SERGEANT WILLIAM GEORGE HUMPHRIES 10th Battalion Devonshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 28th October 1916 on the Salonika front.

LIEUTENANT JAMES MUNDY19th Battalion Durham Light Infantry. Killed in Action. 26th November 1916.

Three soldiers were executed by firing squad for deserting their posts in same raid when Lieutenant James Mundy was shot. The 19th Durhams were a Bantam Battalion and as a result of their calamitous response to this trench raid the Bantam Battalions were permanently disbanded. The Mundy family had a shop just outside this building, where Costa Coffee is today.

Cllr Susie Price reads the names from 1917

CORPORAL LAURIE ALEXANDER MANDERSONRoyal Army Medical Corps. Died at Home. 12th March 1917.

Laurie is buried in St Katherine’s Church yard in Savernake Forest.

PRIVATE ARTHUR LEONARD BEACH2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 9th April 1917.

PRIVATE HERBERT J TAYLOR2nd Battalion Leinster Regiment. Killed in Action. 12th April 1917.

RIFLEMAN HARRY WESTALL12th Kings Royal Rifle Corps. Killed in Action. 25th April 1917.

LANCE CORPORAL ROY FITZHERBERT GLASS17th Battalion Kings Royal Fusiliers. Killed in Action. 29th April 1917.

LANCE CORPORAL FRED STRONG1st Battalion Somerset Light Infantry. Killed in Action. 3rd May 1917.

PRIVATE FRANCIS LOOKER9th Labour Company Devonshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 8th May 1917

PRIVATE ARCHIBALD THOMAS PEAL2nd Honourable Artillery Company. Killed in Action. 15th May 1917.

PRIVATE ERIC RAYMOND LEAK1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 7th June 1917.

GUNNER RICHARD CHARLES WOODMachine Gun Corps (Motor Branch). Killed in Action. 12th June 1917.

Charles was on sentry duty when he and a colleague were hit by shell fire.

PRIVATE HENRY JOHN MILSOM10th Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps. Killed in Action. 15th June 1917.

Henry’s brother was killed on the Somme in 1916.

LANCE CORPORAL GEORGE MARSH3rd/10th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. Killed in Action. 20th June 1917.

PRIVATE FRANCIS WILLIAM SPRULES1st/8th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 22nd June 1917.

Marian Hannaford-Dobson Deputy Chairman Marlborough Branch Royal British Legion reads the

names from 1917 SECOND LIEUTENANT ARTHUR CLEMENTS HEBERDEN2nd Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps. Killed in action. 10th July 1917.

Second Lieutenant Heberden was an assistant master at the College.

GUNNER WILFRED WIGGINS161st Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery. Killed in Action. 25th July 1917

GUNNER JAMES WILLIAM BIRT244th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery. Killed in Action. 26th July 1917

LANCE CORPORAL RICHARD HENRY SMITH2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 2nd August 1917.

PRIVATE WALTER HAROLD COX1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 6th August 1917.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM HERBERT BAMBRIDGE24th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. Killed in Action. 19th August 1917.

PRIVATE SIDNEY WALTER EYERS2nd/7th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers. Killed in Action. 9th October 1917.

ABLE SEAMAN ERNEST HOAREHood Battalion Royal Naval Division. Killed in Action. 26th October 1917.

Men of the Royal Naval Division were sailors who served as infantry on the Western Front.

PRIVATE STANLEY DYAS5th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 10th November 1917 in Iraq.

LANCE CORPORAL ROBERT JOHN NEATE1st/4th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 13th November 1917 in Palestine.

SAPPER WILLIAM COLLINSRoyal Engineers 262 Railway Construction Company. Killed in Action. 14th November 1917.

PRIVATE EDRIC ALFRED BAKERKings Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment. Killed in Action. 10th November 1917 in Iraq.

LANCE CORPORAL ARTHUR HENRY MARCHANT2nd/7th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 5th December 1917.

PRIVATE PERCY WILLIAM SWATTON1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 10th December 1917.

Cllr Harry Forbes reads the names from 1918 including the men

who fell in the German Spring Offensive

PRIVATE ALBERT HENRY CHOULES2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 21st March 1918.

PRIVATE ERNEST JOHN HUTCHINS2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 21st March 1918.

Both Albert Choules and Ernest were killed on the same day and the same action. The Battalion was manning a Forward Zone redoubt on 21st March when the British front line was hit by a massive and overwhelming assault by the enemy. The British in total disarray were driven back some fifty miles before they managed to steady the position. The 2nd Wilts redoubt held out for some hours before it was surrounded and overrun. Such was the confusion of the situation that a roll call was not taken until 2nd April when it was discovered that 597 soldiers were missing. Ernest and Albert’s bodies were never recovered.

PRIVATE GEORGE PERRETT6th (Wiltshire Yeomanry) Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 23rd March 1918.

The 6th Wilts suffered the same fate as the 2nd Wilts when they were overrun and massacred.

SECOND LIEUTENANT SYDNEY NAPIER HILLIER6th Battalion South Wales Borderers. Killed in action. 25th March 1918.

PRIVATE WILLIAM HUTCHINS1st/4th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 10th April 1918 in Palestine.

Billy, as he was known, was the eldest and last surviving son of Edward & Sarah of London Road. Two other sons had been killed in action in 1916.

PRIVATE AUGUSTUS WILLIAM BELL18th Battalion Durham Light Infantry. Killed in Action. 12th April 1918.

COMPANY QUARTERMASTER SERGEANT CHARLES MONRO DEVIS2nd Regiment South African Infantry. Killed in Action. 20th April 1918.

LIEUTENANT CHRISTOPHER LANCELOT USHER2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 23rd April 1918.

Christopher was another casualty of the massive assault on the 21st March. He only joined the Battalion on the 10th January 1918. He was noted on the roll call on 2nd April as wounded. It is believed he died whilst prisoner of war. He was the son of the Rector of St Peters.

PRIVATE FREDERICK DUNFORD2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 8th May 1918.

Following the disaster of March 21st, the 2nd Wilts was withdrawn to the Ypres sector to rest and reform. The Battalion was linked to the 2nd Bedford’s as a Composite Battalion. In this state the Battalion was again in action as the enemy shifted its point of attack. Thirty seven men were listed as missing in action. Frederick was amongst them and his body was never recovered.

SAPPER CYRIL VICTOR JIGGLE17th Division Signal Company Royal Engineers. Killed in Action. 31st May 1918 in Iraq.

PRIVATE WILLIAM HARLY EDEN1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. Killed in Action. 6th June 1918.

SAPPER WILLIAM THOMAS DOBSON490th Field Company Royal Engineers. Died of wounds. 9th June 1918.

Regimental Sergeant Major Chris Anderson of 4 Military

Intelligence Battalion reads the names from 1918 for the last 100

days2ND CORPORAL DAVID WILLIAM JENNINGS20th (TF) Depot Royal Engineers Kent Fortress Battalion. Died at home from shell shock and mustard gas poisoning. 6th August 1918.

David is buried in Marlborough Old Cemetery. David played first class cricket for Kent before the War. He played at Lords in 1917 against Australian and the South African Imperial Forces.

PRIVATE FREDERICK EVANS HULBERT6th Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 23rd August 1918.

PRIVATE GEOFFREY LIONEL BROOKE1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. Died as a prisoner of war in Germany on 3rd September 1918.

Geoffrey was reported missing in action on 27th May. Post cards were received from him as a prisoner and also from him informing the family he was in hospital.

ABLE SEAMAN ERNEST GOUGHDrake Battalion, Royal Naval Division. Killed in Action. 3rd September 1918.

PRIVATE SYDNEY BEARD6th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry. Sidney was accidentally shot and killed by a comrade on 12th September 1918.

CORPORAL DAVID CHARLES ROGERS.6th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery. Killed in Action. 27th September 1918.

PRIVATE RICHARD HENRY WYATTMachine Gun Corps (Infantry). Killed in Action. 27th September 1918.

PRIVATE WILLIAM GEORGE DANCE1st/4th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Died of Malaria in Egypt. 9th October 1918.

William was among a large group of Marlborough men who enlisted at the outbreak of war and were immediately sent out to India.

GUNNER GERALD GRANVILLE GLASS134th Battery, Royal Field Artillery. Killed in Action. 11th October 1918.

His older brother was killed in 1917.

ENGINEER COMMANDER PERCY HILLIERHMS Colombo Royal Navy. Died at home. 30th October 1918.

Commander Hillier is buried in Marlborough Old Cemetery.

PRIVATE WILLIAM MUNDY6th Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment. Killed in Action. 31st October 1918.

And now the last three soldiers from Marlborough to be killed in

action in the Great WarPRIVATE ALBERT VICTOR ROBBINS1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment. Killed in Action. 4th November 1918.

With the Armistice only one week away the British fought the last large-scale action of the Great War, the Battle of Sambre the objective being to finally break the German resistance. Three Marlborough Soldiers were lost in this battle.

GUARDSMAN SIDNEY GEORGE SALTER3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards. Killed in Action. 4th November 1918.

Sidney was the son of a College Butler and a Marlborough Grammar School boy. His Battalion was part of the elite Guards Division. He was mortally wounded early in the morning.

SECOND LIEUTENANT CHARLES JOHN NORMAN ADAMS2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards. Killed in action. 14th November 1918.

Charles Adams was an assistant college Master and, like Sidney Salter, his Battalion was also in the elite Guards Division. Charles also fell early in the morning on the 4th when his company was caught in the open with devasting machine gun fire. Charles was evacuated to base hospital at Rouen where he died from his wounds several days later.

A large crowd was present at the unveiling of Marlborough’s War Memorial on Sunday 25th September 1932.

The war memorial to the fallen of the 7th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment in its original position at the junction of London Road and Salisbury Road, Marlborough. The German gun, which was captured by the Battalion and given to the town as a war trophy, is in the centre of the picture pointing towards Hungerford.

The book of the Names of the Men from Marlborough who served in the war.

28TH JUNE 1914Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

8TH JULY 1914Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. Germany declares war on Russia

4TH AUGUST 1914Great Britain declares war on Germany

The Wiltshire Regiment was the County Regiment that attracted the majority of men from Marlborough.

7TH AUGUST 1914War reaches Africa

23RD AUGUST 1914The Battle of Mons

5TH SEPTEMBER 1914The Battle of the Marne

25TH SEPTEMBER 1914Elsie Kocker in Belgium with the Munro Flying Ambulance Corps

10TH OCTOBER 1914Indian army joins the war effort. The Battle of La Bassee

OCTOBER 1914The First Battle of Ypres

Both the 1st and 2nd Wilts fought in this battle.

OCTOBER 1914Marlborough welcomes Belgian refugees

31ST OCTOBER 1914The Siege of Tsingtao

3RD JANUARY 1915First use of poison gas

25TH APRIL 1915The Gallipoli campaign

The 5th Wilts fought at Gallipoli and were involved in a heroic engagement.

7TH MAY 1915The sinking of the Lusitania

30TH MAY 1915Charles Sorley arrives in France with the Suffolk regiment

OCTOBER 1914More than 100 Men from Marlborough were serving two Territorial battalions that went to in India

OCTOBER 1915The last New Army battalion raised in Wiltshire, the 7th Wilts, set up “home base” in Marlborough for 6 months

27TH JANUARY 1916Conscription introduced in Great Britain

Marching band in front of St. Peter’s church on the High Street.

The Gallipoli Campaign

21ST FEBRUARY 1916The Battle of Verdun

31ST MAY 1916The Battle of Jutland

SUMMER 1916The Mesopotamia Campaign

The 5th Wilts were there together with men from the 4th Wilts who were transferred from India to replenish losses in other units fighting in this theatre. Many men from Marlborough fought in the Mesopotamia Campaign.

8TH NOVEMBER 1917The Russian Revolution

NOVEMBER 1917The Battle of Cambrai

The British achieved a complete breakthrough. Church bells were rung throughout the country. Bells were rung in Marlborough.

21ST MARCH 1918Germany launches the Spring Offensive

Men of the 2nd Wilts were manning a redoubt in the forward zone. They held out for some hours until their ammunition was expended, and they were overrun. Two Marlborough men with the 2nd Wilts disappeared that morning.

JULY 1918The 100 days offensive

11TH NOVEMBER 1918Armistice

4TH NOVEMBER 1918The Battle of Sambre

Three Marlborough Soldiers lost their lives in this battle.

2ND JUNE 1916The Battle of Mount Sorrell

1ST JULY 1916The Battle of the Somme

In that 41 day period hundreds of Battalions and units fought in the campaign and numerus men from Marlborough could claim they were on the Somme.

10TH AUGUST 1916Corporal George Garside arrived by train to his hometown of Marlborough after being granted leave following his discharge from hospital

In recognition of his gallant conduct, His Majesty the King conferred upon him the Distinguished Conduct Medal for services in the field.

6TH APRIL 1917The USA enters the war

Marlboroughand The Great War

Marlborough men shovelling snow on Free’s Avenue (with some very young trees).

Elsie Knockerpresented by Cllr Nick FoggElsie Knocker, the adopted daughter of a Marlborough College Master, was one of the first people from Marlborough to see action first hand in the start of the Great War.

She with her good friend Mairi Chisholm had joined Munro Flying Ambulance Corps and were in Belgium on the 25th September 1914 where they witnessed the horrors inflicted by the German invaders on the civilian population. Elsie and Marie soon resigned from the Corps to set up their own dressing station close to the town of Pervyse just a hundred yards from the front line trenches.

Can you imagine what the British High Command thought when the they discovered two ladies with their own private enterprise field dressing station stuck in their front line?

Their courageous work had been recognised by the King of the Belgians who awarded them with the Order of Leopold II.

As word spread of their deeds they began to receive visits from journalists, photographers and VIPS, becoming amongst the most photographed women of the war.

They used their fame and connections in high places to get the British Military authorities to not just allow them to continue their courageous work, but also to support them with supplies and personnel.

Their extraordinary bravery was recognised by being awarded the Military Medal and the Order of St John.

An extract from Elsie’s memoir, “Flanders and Other Fields” the Memoirs of The Baroness de T’Serclaes MM

The Belgian Refugee Crisispresented by Cllr Harry ForbesIn October 1914 Marlborough welcomed 20 refugees from the town of Lierre in Belgium. A ladies committee was established to make arrangements for the arrival of the Belgians, and when they did not turn up when expected, Mrs Curie and Mrs David took the train to London to see what could be done. After being passed around by various bureaucrats, the ladies brought the company back with them on the 5pm train from Paddington the same day.

The honoured guests were greeted by well-wishers at the Savernake Railway Station and taken by car and bus to their new accommodation – a house at Barnfield, the rooms above the Unionist Club and a house gifted by the Bursar of Marlborough College. Soon after, a Belgian lady of title arrived along with her family, and they were granted Plough Cottage for themselves and their servants.

M C Van den Heuvel, the head of the Belgian family living above the Unionist Club in the High Street, wrote a letter to the Marlborough Times detailing their journey to Marlborough and the hardships that they had faced along the way, recounting how being located between the two chains of forts surrounding Antwerp, they regularly bore witness to troops heading to (and diminished numbers returning from) battle; peasants fleeing the cruelties of the Germans - and even how they hosted King Albert for two weeks.

The refugees were incredibly thankful to the people of Marlborough, who the Mayor had promised would ‘take all necessary steps to provide for your needs and comfort in every way’ in his letter to the Marlborough Times the week after their arrival.

The plaque in the Town Hall to commemorate the Belgian refugees

The 5th Wilts and Gallipolipresented by Cllr Andrew RossThree New Army Battalions were raised in Wiltshire. The first Wiltshire Regiment Battalion raised was the 5th Wilts. This Battalion was formed in Tidworth in August 1914. Two thousand men were quickly recruited, and the Battalion was split in two with the new unit becoming 6th Battalion. By the early months of 1915 these new Battalions had received basic training and were considered ready for deployment.

One of the very first to be deployed was the 5th Wilts. On 1st July they embarked at Avonmouth destined to join the campaign against the Turks at Gallipoli.

Corporal Alfred Ingram of Kingsbury Terrace in a letter home tells us: “‘which I will never forget the Turks rushed over the hill in mobs and we had to retire. Thirty of us got away with an officer who was killed the same morning. They hid all day under the boiling sun. They made their move at night fall and under rapid fire from all quarters got away up the hill and over the ridge and after stumbling around for some hours reached the safety of the British lines.” He states he was ‘’very lucky to escape “.

The 5th Wilts in Cirencester

Scenes from Gallipoli

George Garsidepresented by Cllr Andy WilsonGeorge Garside joined the Marlborough Volunteer Training Corps at the age of 19 and in Easter 1915 enlisted into the Wiltshire Regiment. He was sent to the 8th Battalion and was selected for service in the Machine Gun Corps along with two other Marlborough men – Pte Foote and Pte Miles.

Garside served in the bloodiest battle of the war, the Battle of the Somme. In recognition of his gallant conduct, His Majesty the King conferred upon him the Distinguished Conduct Medal for services in the field.

At 2.18pm on the 10th of August 1916, Corporal George Garside arrived by train to his hometown of Marlborough and was surprised to be greeted by the Mayor at the platform. He was taken by car draped in a union jack to the front of the Town Hall, where thirteen hundred cadets and their officers were assembled along with a crowd of townsfolk.

After three-cheers were given for Corporal Garside and another for his parents, the cadets escorted him to his home on London Road.

The Marlborough Times reported Corporal Garside to be a modest man, who when arriving home avowed that he would rather go through the fighting at Fricourt Wood again than to face a public demonstration of the nature he had just undergone.

There is a fine collection of photographs of the Battalion in Marlborough. The 7th Wilts were on the Western Front for a very brief period in 1915 and did not return until late 1918 serving all the rest of the war in Salonika , now known as Macedonia. There was hard fighting and all the deprivations of trench life but nothing to compare with the Western Front. Casualties were relatively light. We do know of one casualty, a Cadley man, Andrew Fergusson was killed in an action assaulting the Bulgarian positions in 1917. He was the grandfather of David Chandler who is with us tonight.

More storiesfrom Marlborough and beyond

Concert for the wounded

Presentation Ambulance - On the afternoon of Saturday 18th August 1917 the presentation of a Red Cross motor ambulance to the Army took place outside Marlborough’s Town Hall in the High Street. The money needed to purchase the ambulance had been raised by members of the Swindon, Marlborough and Devizes lodges of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (RAOB) who were working hard to raise more money for a second vehicle.

The Rockley Trenches

Songs from the soldiers

If you were the only girl in the worldand I were the only boy,Nothing else would matter in the world today,

We could go on loving in the same old way.

It’s a long way to Tipperary,

It’s a long way to go,

It’s a long way to Tipperary,

To the sweetest girl I know!

Goodbye Piccadilly! Farewell Leicester Square!

It’s a long, long way to Tipperary,

But my heart’s right there!

Keep the Home Fires Burning,

While your hearts are yearning,

Though your lads are far away,

They dream of home.

There’s a silver lining,

Through the dark clouds shining,

Turn the dark cloud inside out,

‘Til the boys come home.

Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,

And smile, smile, smile!

While you’ve a lucifer to light your fag,

Smile, boys, that’s the style.

What’s the use of worrying?

It never was worth while, soPack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,

And smile, smile, smile!

Good-bye-ee! Good-bye-ee!

Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee.

Tho’ it’s hard to part I know,

I’ll be tickled to death to go.

Don’t cry-ee! don’t sigh-ee!

There’s a silver lining in the sky-ee.

Bonsoir old thing, cheerio! chin chin!

Nah-poo! Toodle-oo!

Good-bye-ee!

No 3 Section, 302 Company, on the march in the High Street.

Marlborough Town Council would like to thank:THE MERCHANT’S HOUSE

THE MARLBOROUGH HISTORY SOCIETY

THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION

4 MILITARY INTELLIGENCE BATTALION

MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE

MARLBOROUGH ACADEMY OF DANCE & DRAMA

FRANCESCA GRIST

ST. MARY’S CHURCH MARLBOROUGH

THE MARLBOROUGH AND DISTRICT LIONS

TESCO MARLBOROUGH

WAITROSE MARLBOROUGH

ROB & ANGIE DICKENS

DAVID DU CROZ

THE MARLBOROUGH MEN’S RELATIVES AND FAMILIES:

SHEILA HALE

ANGELA O’KEEFE

ANDY STONE

LAURIE DOBIE

MARK GARSIDE

DAVID CHANDLER